


Fire in the Sky

by admiralandrea



Series: Season 10 tags [4]
Category: NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: Community: trope_bingo, Episode Related, Episode Tag, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 07:57:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20373352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/admiralandrea/pseuds/admiralandrea
Summary: Callen struggles with the events of Smokescreen and the danger his partner faced. They reconnect afterwards on Sam's boat.





	Fire in the Sky

**Author's Note:**

> Missing scenes/tag for S10E14 & 15 - Smokescreen 1 & 2. Written for the Friends to Lovers square of my Trope Bingo card and part of S10 tags series

As Callen watched his partner hug Morales, he wished it was him in those strong arms. This had been a new experience, being stuck in a building full of bomb victims, triaging them, trying – and not always succeeding – to keep them alive. 

The rescue of the two boys had been intense, though thankfully brief. He was glad he’d been able to save them and knew they’d be okay eventually. Kids were resilient like that.

Sam had performed heroics again, saving Dan’s life by resetting his broken collar bone, the way he’d save Callen back in Mexico by cutting into his side and fixing his punctured lung.

As Callen watched, a police officer came up to Morales and guided her away gently, asking her questions. Before he could go to Sam though, Kensi and Deeks arrived with Ochoa.

“Gentlemen,” Ochoa came up to them. “It’s good to see you. You should get checked over by the paramedics.”

Callen shook his head. “We’re fine,” he said.

Ochoa frowned. “You know a post-incident medical is mandatory Agent Callen,” he said, tone surprisingly mild.

“Then we’ll see the medics back at the office,” Sam told him. “These guys have plenty of work to do dealing with the people who are actually injured.”

“Very well,” Ochoa backed down gracefully, which impressed Callen. He liked the Deputy Director despite himself and found him to be a reasonable guy. “In that case, I will see you all back at the office.” 

He gave them all a quick nod before turning and leaving. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Kensi asked as soon as he was out of earshot.

“We’re fine Kens,” Callen reassured her.

She still looked concerned, as did Deeks, but she didn’t say anything else, just hugging them both quickly.

“Let’s get out of here,” Sam suggested.

Deeks nodded agreement. “Great plan.”

They all turned away from the theatre and headed for the street where they’d left their cars parked, glad to be lucky enough to walk away relatively unscathed.

*

Back at OSP they barely had time to get cleaned up and see the medic before Ochoa was giving them more work to do. And then there was another close call with a bomb and Callen was getting pretty fed up of those today. Especially when he thought for a second there that Sam hadn’t made it this time. He was fairly sure he’d stopped breathing for the few seconds it took for his partner to let them know he was okay. 

Callen had had to hold in his emotions again, letting Kensi be the one to call out to him. This time, when they went into the terminal building to change back into their own clothes, he gave into it and grabbed Sam.

“G?” His partner was startled for a second, but then his strong, familiar arms were around Callen and he was able to lean on the other man for a few seconds, hearing the beating of his heart and smelling his baby powder scent.

It felt good and Callen probably stayed there a bit too long, before finally forcing himself to let go and take a step back. Fortunately, Sam seemed just as reluctant to release him and even ducked forward to give him a swift, hard kiss, just as there was a knock on the door summoning them back to duty.

“Later,” Sam said, a promise in his dark eyes and Callen just nodded agreement.

*

Callen knew he made an idiot of himself with the comments about Aquaman, but he didn’t mind, it felt good to fall back into their usual banter, pushing away everything else they’d experienced so far during this hellish case.

*

Finally, the case was over and the team stood a moment, taking stock. Callen made eye contact with each of them, making sure they were all okay. And they were, shocked by the fact that Ross had betrayed them, but safe and uninjured.

LAPD arrived on scene shortly after, quickly followed by the FBI and US Marshals. Callen was happy to turn things over to them to deal with and was soon able to send Kensi and Deeks back to OSP. He was stuck there a little longer with Sam, though, waiting for the FBI SAC to arrive and hear their accounts first hand before they were finally able to leave too.

The drive back to the office was quiet, both of them needing to decompress after the events of the day. Callen kept a hand on Sam’s thigh most of the way, wanting the contact with his partner. Sam rested his hand on top of Callen’s whenever he was able to, fingers entwined.

*

They were surprised to find Kensi and Deeks still in the office when they got there.

“Guys?” Callen asked, as they paused at the entrance to the bullpen, gear in hand.

Kensi looked up from her laptop. “Hey, you finally made it back,” she observed.

“Why haven’t you gone home?” Sam asked.

“Ochoa asked us to do our reports tonight,” Deeks said, using air quotes as he said asked.

Callen snorted. “You mean he told you to do them?”

“Well,” Kensi drew the word out. “Not outright, but he strongly implied he’d prefer it if he had them as soon as possible.”

“Understandable,” Sam nodded. “Whole thing turned into a clusterfuck of epic proportions. FBI SAC was pretty pissed off, to say nothing of the Marshals.”

Callen sighed. “I better go give him the after action report,” he said.

“We’ll take your gear,” Deeks offered, getting up to reach for Callen’s bag.

“There’s no need Deeks,” Callen pulled back from him.

Kensi got up as well. “We’re done with our reports,” she told him. “Let us return the favor.”

“Let them do it G,” Sam said, handing over his bag. “We want to get out of here before midnight.”

Callen exhaled a sigh. “Yeah, okay,” he agreed and passed his bag to Deeks, then turned for the stairs. “I better go talk to Ochoa.”

*

When he returned, Sam was tapping away on his laptop, while Kensi and Deeks were sat on the couch, drinks in hand.

Sam looked up as Callen wandered in, rubbing his face tiredly. “Hey, finally done?”

“For now,” Callen agreed. He frowned. “Why are those two still here?”

“You trying to get rid of us again?” Deeks asked with a smile.

Kensi elbowed him and stood up. “Morales called to say that there’s a vigil at the LA Theatre, if we wanted to attend.”

Callen’s eyes widened in surprise, then he nodded. “Of course,” he agreed.

*

Callen rested his head on the passenger side window and dozed all the way to the Marina where Sam’s boat was currently berthed. Sam let him be, knowing he hadn’t slept the night before. 

When they got to the dock, Tom was there waiting, a couple of boxes at his feet.

“Tom,” Sam gave him a brief hug.

“You look like shit man,” his friend said.

Sam smirked. “Getting blown up does that for you.”

“Saw the news,” Tom said. “You’re really riding your luck brother.”

“I know,” Sam nodded agreement.

Tom looked back to the Hellcat, where Sam had left his partner dozing. “He okay?”

Sam caught the look of concern on his face. Tom didn’t ‘know’ about them – no-one did officially, but his friend was good enough to have worked it out. He gave a slight shrug.

“He’s not real good at sleeping,” Sam admitted softly.

Tom just nodded. He knew enough about Callen’s past to not be surprised by that. “Let’s get this gear on board,” was all he said.

Sam was in the galley putting food away when his partner appeared in the doorway.

“Were you planning on leaving me there all night?” he asked.

Sam looked up. “You needed your beauty sleep,” he said with a smirk.

Callen growled at that and Sam laughed. “Got your gear?” he asked.

Callen held up his bag, so Sam pointed to where he could stow it away. “We’ll be ready to get going in a minute.”

Callen nodded and Sam went back up on deck to make sure they had everything. Tom was waiting when he got there.

“You’re all set,” he said. “So I’ll get out of your hair.”

Sam rolled his eyes at that, as Tom smirked at him. “I thought you were coming with us?”

“The two of you need some proper down time,” he said. When Sam went to say something, he held up his hand. “Time alone Sam. Don’t argue with me on this.”

Sam sighed but just nodded. It was true, they did need the break and Callen especially needed to relax, which he wouldn’t do properly with Tom around. Although his partner trusted Tom, it wasn’t the same level of trust he had with Sam and therefore he would remain on edge at least a little bit with the other man around.

Tom smiled at Sam’s understanding and they did the brief shoulder hug again, before Tom carefully climbed back onto the dock. He untied the mooring ropes for Sam, then raised a hand in a salute as Sam went to get them underway.

*

Callen appeared on a deck a few minutes later, holding three bottles of beer. “Where’s Tom?” he looked around as if he thought the other man might be hiding somewhere.

“He stayed on shore,” Sam said as he took one of the beers. Callen looked confused. “He thought we might like some time alone,” Sam explained.

Callen’s eyes narrowed at that. “What did you tell him?” he asked suspiciously.

Sam raised his hands. “There was no telling – or asking – going on,” he said. “Not that it matters, none of us are military now.”

“I know,” Callen said irritably. “But I’ve already had Ochoa on my case about my girlfriends and he had a few things to say about Kensi and Deeks as well. God knows how Rogers would react.”

Sam came forward and put an arm on his partner’s shoulders. “Relax G,” he soothed. “Tom is hardly going to tell anyone. He didn’t even say anything outright to me, he just let me know by what he didn’t say that he’d figured it out.”

Callen sighed, but Sam felt him relax under his arm. “Yeah, alright,” he said.

Sam smiled and kissed him briefly. “You keep an eye on our course, I’ll go find us something to eat.”

“Just no veggie dogs,” Callen warned him.

“I promise,” Sam agreed.

*

After a dinner of chicken pasta salad, Sam took over control of the Michelle once more while Callen went below to clean up after dinner. Sam had already picked a suitable spot for them to spend the night and it didn’t take long to get there.

Callen hadn’t reappeared on deck during the trip but Sam wasn’t too bothered by that. He knew that his partner often needed space to deal with their more difficult cases and the last few days had been exceptional, even for them.

Once everything was secure, Sam went below and found Callen seated in the clear space in the middle of the floor. He was cross legged, back to Sam, head down.

“G?” Sam was uncertain what was going on.

Callen turned his head. “Hey Sam,” he said, subdued.

“You okay partner?”

Callen shrugged. “Fine,” he said, but he sounded listless.

Sam came round to crouch down in front of him. Callen’s eyes were red, but he wasn’t crying. He did look tired, though.

“How about we get some sleep?” Sam suggested, deciding to just leave whatever was bothering the other man for now, in favor of getting some rest.

Callen nodded, so Sam guided him to his feet, then pulled him in for a kiss before gently stripping off his shirt and pants. He didn’t attempt to take it any further than that, sensing that his partner wasn’t in the mood for sex at the moment. Rest was more important than anything else for both of them.

*

Sam woke in the middle of the night, to find himself alone. He wasn’t particularly surprised. Although Callen would sleep for a few hours when they were together, he still rarely slept through the night and would quietly get up, leaving Sam sleeping. 

He had gotten better about finding something to do that didn’t disturb Sam, unlike the early days of their partnership, when he’d stayed at the Hanna house. The Toaster Incident of years past was still something of a sore point between them. The fact that they were now in an intimate relationship served to make Callen more considerate of his partner.

Now, Sam headed up on deck, finding Callen sitting cross legged again, apparently contemplating the horizon. Remembering the time Deeks had accused Callen of having nothing to do but gaze at the ocean, smoldering, Sam smirked. 

He walked up quietly to Callen’s side, sitting against the side of the boat with a grimace as his knee twinged.

Callen turned to look at him, smiling softly. “Hey, sorry if I woke you,” he said quietly.

Sam shook his head. “You didn’t. Are you okay?”

Callen shrugged a little. “Just thinking how lucky we were today and how much it would suck to lose you. Thanking Allah for the fact we made it through.”

Sam was surprised to hear his partner speak like that. Callen wasn’t religious, but was accepting of Sam’s faith, even if he wasn’t as devout as some. Callen shifted to sit astride Sam’s legs, ducking his head to catch Sam’s mouth with his own. He was aggressive in the kiss, pushing his tongue into Sam’s mouth and Sam just hung on for the ride, letting him set the pace.

As they continued to kiss, Callen began to rock against Sam, getting some delicious friction going and Sam pulled back to moan, breathing hard. Callen immediately moved to mouth at Sam’s neck, nipping and sucking, while his hands slipped beneath his T-shirt. He paused long enough to toss Sam’s shirt aside and Sam took a moment to be grateful it had gone behind his partner, to the deck and not overboard in Callen’s enthusiasm.

Callen went back to kissing Sam, while busy hands stroked over his chest, teasing his nipples and still he kept up the movement of his hips against Sam. Sam wouldn’t have minded getting fully naked, stretching out even, but he sensed that Callen didn’t have the patience for that right now, so he pushed his partner’s T-shirt up and off in turn, allowing him to do some touching of his own.

Callen arched his back, pushing his chest into Sam’s hands, breaking the kiss again to pant hot breath against Sam’s throat, moaning as he did so. Sam moved to pinch and pull at his nipples, knowing Callen liked it rough, earning a shout as Callen moved faster.

They were both getting close to the edge, so Sam held him close, both of them breathing fast as they continued to rock together, until Callen shouted again as he fell, his movements slowing as he came. Sam moved beneath him, desperate for just a bit more stimulation until he could come too.

Callen pushed a hand between them, gripping Sam’s heavy, hard dick through his shorts and squeezed firmly, thumb rubbing over the head. Sam yelled at the pressure and touch in just the right place, until he was coming too, moaning in relief.

They stayed close as they gradually recovered, breathing slowly returning to normal. Callen pressed soft, light kisses to Sam’s neck, then moved across his face to his mouth, tongues tangling sweetly.

Sam gently broke the kiss after a while with a sigh. “I need to move,” he said regretfully.

“Yeah, okay,” Callen agreed with his own sigh, pushing to his feet after a second, then holding out a hand for Sam.

Once he was on his feet, Sam pulled his partner close for a quick hug. “Let’s go sleep some more,” he suggested.

Callen smiled and nodded agreement. “I can probably manage that.”

“Good.” Sam took his hand and led him below, happy to settle close together in his bunk once more.


End file.
